BUFFY vs JASON
by Thundarr The Barbarian
Summary: This story takes place during the summer between Buffy Season 4 and Season 5. For the Friday The 13th franchise, it takes place between Friday The 13th Part 7 and Part 8. Buffy and Riley go to Crystal Lake for a vacation after Adam's defeat. While they're there, they meet Crystal Lake's most notorious resident. Now it's a fight to the finish. Who will win? Who will survive?
1. Chapter 1

_**BUFFY vs. JASON**_

**Chapter One**

Joyce Summers watches with satisfaction as Buffy's new boyfriend, Riley Finn, finishes his second helping of dinner. This is the first time Buffy had ever invited him over for dinner, so she went all out with the meal. Pot roast, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, carrots au gratin, and a nice fresh garden salad (made from vegetables grown in her own garden no less). Riley uses a Yorkshire pudding to mop up the last of the gravy on his plate as he finishes the last bites of his meal.

"Another helping Riley?" she offers in her most motherly voice.

"No thank you, Mrs. Summers," says Riley, "One more bite and I'll burst."

"Well I'm glad to see Buffy has found herself a man with a good appetite," replies Joyce.

"Fighting demons works up quite an appetite," he says.

Joyce gets noticeably tense at the mention of demons. It's been two years, almost to the day, since she had learned that Buffy was The Slayer. It took her a while to wrap her head around the fact that demons, monsters, and vampires are real. And she still doesn't like the fact that Buffy goes out and fights them on a nightly basis. She knows that Buffy can take care of herself. Plus she has her friends, Xander, Willow, that nice Tara girl that joined their little circle of friends. Even that Anya girl that Xander has been dating helps out. And Rupert, or Giles as the kids call him, is a pretty capable monster fighter. And now this Riley boy, a trained soldier no less. But she's a mom. It's her job to worry.

"Riley," says Buffy, "We promised Mom no shop talk tonight. Tonight we're not Slayer and former Agent Finn. We're just Buffy and Riley, visiting Mom for Sunday dinner."

"You're right," agrees Riley, "Sorry, Mrs. Summers."

"That's okay, Riley," says Joyce, "I know the slaying is a big part of your lives. But it is nice to take a break from it now and then."

"Oh the joys of living on a Hell Mouth," says Buffy in her usual sarcastic way.

"Come on, you two," says Joyce, happy for an opportunity to change the subject, "Let's take our after dinner tea in the living room."

"_After dinner tea?_" says Buffy, "Mom, you've been hanging around Giles too much."

"Oh hush," says Joyce with a laugh, "It's too late in the day for coffee. I'll be up all night with that much caffeine. Besides, it's nice to spend time with someone my own age"

"Just as long as you two haven't kept any of the band candy," says Buffy.

"Band candy?" asks Riley. He hadn't heard this particular story from her life as The Slayer.

"Trust me," says Buffy, "you don't want to know."

"I'll take your word for it," says Riley.

"You two go make yourselves comfortable," says Joyce, "I'll be in with the tea just as soon as I'm done clearing the table."

"Oh I can do that for you Mrs. Summers," says Riley, as he begins gathering up their dinner plates.

"Why thank you Riley," says Joyce.

"Pssst, Riley," says Buffy in a mock whisper, "She already likes you. You don't have to suck up anymore."

"My daughter, the comedian," says Joyce sarcastically.

"Learned from the best," laughs Buffy with a wink.

Buffy joins her mom and Riley in clearing the dishes. Then the three of them gather up the silver tea set and adjourn to the living room. In addition to the tea, there is a plate of home made chocolate chip cookies. Despite being full, Riley politely accepts a cookie to go with his tea.

"These cookies are delicious, Mrs. Summers!" says Riley.

"Thank you, Riley," she replies, "I made them myself. It was Ted's recipe."

"Ted's recipe?" says Buffy in surprise, "_Ted's?_"

"Well, minus the roofies of course," says Joyce.

"I don't get it?" says Riley, "Who's Ted?"

"Oh, just the homicidal robot that dated my mom and tried to kill me!" says Buffy.

"Well, yes he was that," admits Joyce, "But he was also one hell of a chef. And just because he was evil doesn't mean I can't use his recipes."

"And who did you get the recipe for the pot roast from?" asks Buffy, "Jeffrey Dahmner?"

"Don't be ridiculous," scoffs Joyce. Then after a dramatic pause she grins mischievously and says "It was Ed Gein."

"Mother!" says Buffy in shock.

Riley can't help but laugh at the banter between his girlfriend and her mother. Joyce sees that she's pushing Buffy's sense of humor a little too far, so she decides to change the subject again.

"So do you two have any plans for school break?" she asks them.

"Actually Mrs. Summers," says Riley, "I'd like to take Buffy to my family's cabin in New Jersey for the weekend. With your permission, of course."

"I thought you said you were from Iowa," says Joyce.

"I am, but we have relatives all over the country," replies Riley, "My uncle lives in New Jersey. He owns a cabin out by Crystal Lake. We used to go visit him out there every once in a while during the summer when I was a kid. It's great. And it'll give us a chance to get away from The Hell Mouth for a while."

"I don't know," says Joyce, "New Jersey is an awful long ways away. How are you planning to get there?"

"Fly," says Riley, "I've had my pilot's license for a few years now. One of the benefits of being in the military. I've reserved a plane to take us to Jersey City. From there we'll ren truck and drive out to Crystal Lake."

"And what about your slaying?" she asks Buffy.

"Mom, I'm only going to be gone for a week," says Buffy, "And after Adam's little assault on The Initiative headquarters most of the demons in town are either dead or trapped down there. Giles and the Scoobies can handle the run of the mill evil until I get back. Heck, ever since he found out that the chip in his head doesn't work against demons, even Spike will be able to help out. Well, for a price anyway."

"I don't know . . ." says Joyce.

"Mom, I'm in college now. I don't need your permission. Riley's just being his old fashioned, polite, country boy self."

"I'm teasing, Buffy," says Joyce, "Of course you have my permission to take my daughter to a cabin in the woods. My permission and my blessing."

"Thanks Mom," says Buffy with a hug, "You're the best."

"I know," says Joyce, "But it's always nice to hear."

After tea and cookies, Riley calls for a cab. When it arrives, Joyce sees Buffy and Riley to the door. She gives Buffy a hug and shakes Riley's hand goodbye.

"Thanks again for a lovely meal Mrs. Summers," says Riley, "It was excellent. You could give my mom a run for her money in the kitchen."

"Why thank you, Riley."

"Yeah, thanks for dinner Mom," says Buffy, "I gotta go home and pack."

"You're both very welcome," she replies, "Be safe."

"We will!" calls Buffy as she and Riley run to catch the taxi that was waiting for them.

The two of them head off back to their dorms to pack their bags. The next morning, Riley shows up at Buffy's door with an olive green duffle bag. Willow and Tara are there seeing Buffy off. When Buffy sees Riley at the door, she rushes over and gives him a kiss hello.

"You ready to go?" he asks.

"Just about," she replies. Then she looks down at his luggage and giggles.

"What?" he asks innocently.

"You can take the boy out of the army . . ." Buffy begins.

"Hey," Riley interrupts her, "these bags were designed for withstanding a lot of wear and tear. Besides, we're going to be camping out in the woods. What do you expect me to bring? Gucci leather suitcases?"

"Here you go Buff," says Willow as she hands Buffy a nice leather suitcase, "Your Gucci leather bag."

"Thanks Will," says Buffy as she takes the suitcase. Then she picks up the bags identical twin. "I'm ready," she says.

"Jeez Buffy," says Riley, "We're only gonna be gone a week. What are you bringing?"

Buffy lifts up the suitcase in her left hand. "This one's clothes," she says, then lifts the other suitcase, "And this one's full of weapons."

"Umm, Buffy?" says Tara, "It's actually the other way around."

"Right," says Buffy, "Either way, I'm coming prepared."

"And what makes you think you're gonna need all that stuff?" asks Riley.

"Hey, whenever I don't have any weapons with me is when the monsters always want to attack," Buffy tells him, "I'm not going to be caught unprepared out in the middle of nowhere."

"Actually," says Riley, "I was talking about the clothes. I don't see you wearing them very much this week."

"Oh really," says Willow with a knowing smile.

Riley gets a little flustered. "I mean we're going to be at a lake," he says, "She'll probably be wearing her swimsuit most of the time. You know . . . Swimming, water skiing, stuff like that."

"Uh-huh," laughs Willow, "Sure, sure."

"Let's go Mister Covert Ops," says Buffy as she leaves her dorm room, "I can't believe you actually used to get _paid_ for being sneaky. You're terrible at it."

"I can't help it," Riley replies as he rushes to catch up with his girlfriend, "My mom raised me to be honest."

They hear Willow and Tara laughing all the way down the hall as they leave for their vacation. They catch a cab and head over to the Sunnydale Airport. They head over to the hanger where the private planes are kept. Buffy follows Riley's lead as he heads towards the plane he had reserved. They walk past several private jets and nice double engine planes until they get to a dinky little single engine Cessna.

"We're flying all the way to New Jersey in _that_?" exclaims Buffy.

"Well, we'll have to set down a couple of times between here and there to refuel," says Riley, "but yeah."

"Couldn't you get anything a little more . . . well . . _. more_?"

"How much money do you think Initiative soldiers got paid?" he asks her, "This is the best plain I could afford. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. And besides, it's a lot cheaper than buying two tickets on a commercial airline."

"I swear," Says Buffy as she puts her bags in the back of the plane, "If you crash this thing, I'm gonna kill you."

"Don't worry," he replies with a laugh, "I crash better than anyone I know."

Riley puts his own bags into the back of the plane. He and Buffy climb in. They take off and manage to fly all the way to Jersey City without incident. They rent a pickup truck from one of the local dealerships, but decide to spend the night at a motel rather than go straight to Crystal Lake. It was late, it was a really long flight, and they were both very tired. The next morning they stop for a nice breakfast at the local IHOP, then head out to the Finn Family Cabin.

It's a much farther drive than Buffy had anticipated. They end up having to spend the night at a local Bed & Breakfast. The couple who ran the place were incredibly friendly and the place had a nice "old world charm" to it. Once again, right after breakfast, they drive off to Crystal Lake. They pass through the town of Crystal Lake late in the afternoon. As they stop for gas, Buffy notices some of the signs around town say Forrest Green. Curious, she walks over to a local and asks him about it.

"They thought changing the name would keep . . . _him_ away," he says.

"Him who?" asks Buffy.

"We don't say his name out loud," says the stranger, "Those who do are doomed. _Doomed_!"

"Dammit RJ, leave that girl alone!" shouts another man who comes over and chases the first man away. "Goddamn nuisance! Just like his dad, that crazy bastard! You okay miss?"

"I'm fine," says Buffy, "What was that all about?"

"Aw, nuthin'," says the local, "He's just the town nut. He's harmless, just a pest. His ol' man was the same. Ol' Ralph was crazy as a loon, always goin' on about Crystal Lake bein' cursed. Now Junior there's caught the bug. Goddamn nuisance!"

"Curse?" says Buffy, a little more on edge now that it sounds like The Hell Mouth might have followed her here.

"Ah, don't you be worryin' your pretty little head about it Miss . . . um . . . Miss . . ."

"Summers. Buffy Summers."

"Well Buffy, I'm Enis. Nice to meet you," he says, "Now like I was sayin', there ain't nothin' to worry about. We had us some local trouble some years ago, but that's long past. Today here at Crystal Lake we're safe as houses. Trust me. Where y'all headed anyway?"

"My uncle has a cabin out by the lake," says Riley as he moves to stand next to his girlfriend, "Hi. I'm Riley Finn."

"Finn, eh?" says Enis, "I know your uncle. Good man. He gonna be comin' out?"

"Nope," says Riley, "Just us, my cousin, and a few of his friends."

"Little Johnny's gonna be there?" asks Enis.

"He's not so little anymore," replies Riley, "But yeah."

"Well you be sure to tell'im Ol' Enis says 'Hi'."

"Will do, sir," says Riley.

Buffy and Riley go into the convenience store and pick up a bunch of groceries, a case of beer, and pay for it all with their gas. As they drive off, they see RJ standing on the street corner, watching them as they go by.

"You're doomed!" he shouts at them, "_You're all doomed_!"

"That guy gives me the wiggins," says Buffy as they leave town and head towards the lake.

"Junior's been shouting about us all being doomed practically my whole life," says Riley, "He hasn't been right yet."

"I'm just glad I came prepared," says Buffy.

"The only thing you need to be prepared for, is a fun filled weekend with your boyfriend."

"And I am," says Buffy, "I brought everything from my skimpiest bikini to my sharpest axe. I have enough condoms to stop a speeding bullet, and enough crossbow bolts to drop a charging rhino. I'm prepared for every eventuality."

"Well the only thing you're gonna have to use that axe on this weekend is firewood."

"I'd better. This is _supposed_ to be my vacation."

They drive out to the cabin. By the time they get there it's already starting to get dark. There are already a couple of other cars parked next to the cabin. Riley parks the truck next to them and cuts the engine. As he and Buffy exit the truck a bunch of people come out of the cabin to greet them. They all appear to be about the same age as Buffy and Riley. One of them, a dark haired young man, comes over and gives Riley a big brotherly hug.

"Riley! How've you been?" he asks.

"Hey Johnny! I'm doing good, how about you?'

"Not bad, not bad," he replies, "And it's just 'John' now, okay? Nobody's called me 'Johnny' since Junior High."

"Okay, _John_," says Riley, "I want you all to meet my girlfriend. Everyone! This is Buffy! Buffy, this is my cousin John and his girlfriend Debra."

"Hi, nice to meet you," says Buffy as she shakes hands with John and Debra.

"This here is his best friend, Wes."

"Hi," she says as she shakes Wes's hand.

"And I don't know anyone else, so everyone else will have to introduce themselves!"

Everyone gets a good chuckle out of that. "This is my girlfriend, Heather," says Wes, indicating a beautiful young brunette. Buffy shakes Heather's hand.

"Hey," she says.

"This here is my good friend Robert, and his girlfriend Stephanie."

Robert, a redhead, and Stephanie, a blonde, both shake Buffy's hand, and they exchange hello's.

"And last but not least, are our dear friends Betsy and her girlfriend, Amy."

"When you say girlfriend," says Buffy, "Do you mean girlfriend? Or do you mean _girlfriend_?"

"Well if by _girlfriend_, you mean are we gay?" says Betsy, a beautiful athletic girl with short black hair, wearing a pair of extremely short shorts and a crop top with a picture of Mickey Mouse on it, "Then the answer is, yes we are. Why? Do you have a problem with that?"

"Who me?" asks Buffy, "Not at all. In fact my best friend in the whole world just realized she was gay. Her name's Willow. Maybe you know her?"

As soon as she said that, Buffy regretted it_. How stupid could I be? _She scolds herself silently. _Willow's in California, this girl's obviously local. Of course they don't know each other!_

"Oh right," says Betsy, "Gay Willow from California. We're _old_ chums. Like this." And she holds up two crossed fingers.

"I'm sorry," says Buffy, "I don't know why I said that. That was really dumb."

"Don't worry about it," says Amy as she comes up to Buffy and gives her a warm hug hello, "Betsy's a little on the sensitive side. If it makes you feel any better, I just recently came out too."

"Oh. Well that's great," replies Buffy, "Good for you."

"Well, actually I'm bisexual," adds Amy, "So if you and your boy toy here ever want a third . . ."

"Amy!" shouts Betsy.

"I'm only kidding, Mon Petite Chou," Amy calls back to her. Then she turns back to Buffy and silently mouths, "_No I'm not. We'll talk_."

"You've got some interesting friends," Buffy half whispers to Riley as she goes to get her stuff out of the bed of the truck.

"I'm sure they'll think the same thing about your Scooby Gang if they ever meet them," Riley whispers back.

"Scooby Gang?" says Wes, as he happens to be within ear shot.

"Never mind," says Riley, "It's a long story. Come on. We've brought party supplies."

"Awesome!" Exclaims Wes, and he and Heather help carry in the groceries.

As they enter the cabin, Buffy turns to John, "By the way, Enis sends his regards."

"Oh, you met Enis?"

"Yeah, we bumped into him in town. He seems like a pretty nice guy."

"Yeah, he and his family have been living in Crystal Lake practically since it was first founded way back when. I think the only family that's lived here longer is Crazy Junior's family. They're part native, so they're Native Indian ancestors lived here long before the white folks ever showed up."

"I think I met him too," says Buffy, "His names RJ?"

"Ralph Junior," explains John, "Or RJ for short. His daddy was the town crazy, and the town drunk. I guess the apple don't fall far from the tree."

"Yeah," says Buffy, "I guess." Changing the subject, Buffy asks John, "So where can I put my stuff?

"You can put it in Riley's old room. It's up the stairs, last door at the end of the hall. Here, let me help you with that."

Before Buffy could stop him, John reaches out and grabs her suitcase full of weapons. The bag drops to the floor and practically drags John down with it.

"What the hell have you got in there?" asks John, "Bricks?"

"Ummmm, beauty supplies," says Buffy thinking quickly, "You know. Make up, hair dryer, hair curler, body lotion, stuff like that. Even in the woods, a girl's gotta look her best for her man."

"I think you over packed," says John, "For one thing, I hardly think you need any beauty treatment, let alone a whole suitcase full."

"That's what I keep telling her," Riley pipes in, "But she's a stubborn one."

"Look, I prefer to carry my own bags," says Buffy, and she grabs her suitcase and lifts it with ease. Everyone looks at her like she's grown a second head. "Oh, um, radioactive spider bite. Next thing you know I'll be climbing the walls."

With that she climbs up the stairs and disappears down the hall. John walks over to Riley and puts his arm around his shoulders. "Dude, your girlfriend's kinda weird," he says, "Incredibly hot, but kinda weird."

"Yeah," says Riley, "but I like her that way."

He slings his duffle bag over his shoulder and heads up to his old room. He finds her in there, staring at an old poster of Captain America that Riley had coloured in himself as a kid. She turns to look at him as he sets his stuff down.

"Captain America, huh?" she says, "It figures. Nice room."

"Hey, I haven't been up here since I was twelve, okay?"

"Uh-huh, a likely story."

"Anyway, you'd better tone down your . . . um . . . Slayerness. We've been here all of ten minutes and they already think you're weird."

"Boy, that must be some kinda record. When we moved to Sunnydale it took me nearly a whole day to develop that kinda reputation."

"Look, we're supposed to be here to get away from all of that. Remember?"

"You're absolutely right," Buffy agrees, and she walks up and wraps her arms around his muscular torso and rests her head upon his chiseled chest, "From now on, no more weirdness. I'm just gonna concentrate on you, and me, and our big comfy . . . uh, Riley? Where's our bed?"

"Oh, right over here," he replies as he untangles himself from her grasp and walks over to the wall. He pulls aside a Japanese room divider and reveals a hammock hanging on a hook in the wall."

"A hammock?" says Buffy incredulously.

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

"Oh I'm gonna be knocking something alright!" she says.

"Our boots?"

"Maybe later," she replies, "First I'm gonna knock your head into the wall!"

Then they both laugh and join together in a passionate embrace. Outside, a dark figure watches from the bushes as the light in the bedroom window goes out.

Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The next morning, Buffy wakes up in the hammock all alone. Riley had gotten up earlier and hadn't returned to bed. Buffy gets up and gets dressed. She goes downstairs to find Riley cooking everyone breakfast. There's a huge stack of waffles, a serving bowl filled with scrambled eggs, and a plate of fried sausages, sliced pan fried ham, and nice crispy bacon. There's also lots of fresh fruit, just to keep the meal healthy.

"Good morning, sleepy-head!" Riley calls to her.

"Mornin'," Buffy replies, and she walks over and gives him a good morning kiss. "You do all of this?"

"I'm an early riser, you know that," he replies.

"Yeah, but I usually get early morning snuggles."

"Family tradition," says John, "Last to arrive has to cook breakfast for everyone else."

"That's not fair," says Buffy, "We had to come all the way from California."

"Rules are rules, Buff," says Riley, "Besides, I don't mind. It's been a long time since I've had a chance to cook for a large number of people. I mean, you and I usually order in."

"That's so we can spend more time doing . . . other stuff," she says, "And please don't say 'Rules are rules'. You sounded just like Ted."

"Who's Ted?" asks Wes.

"Total psycho who almost became my step dad a couple of years ago," replies Buffy, "When I wouldn't give him and my mom my blessing, he tried to kill me. Mom chased him off and we haven't heard from him since."

"Hunted by a psycho killer," says Debra, "Boy, you'll fit right in around here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asks Buffy.

"Forget it, Buff," Riley interjects, "We're here to have a good time. Remember? Here, eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

He puts a plate of food in front of her, and begins filling her coffee mug up with fresh brewed coffee. Normally Buffy would press the point, but she figured Riley was right. They were supposed to be on vacation. All the Slayer stuff can wait. Besides, she was famished, and the food smelled delicious. So she pours on the maple syrup, fixed her coffee with just the right amount of cream and sugar, then digs in.

Everyone sits around the table eating and talking. Buffy begins to relax a bit more, as the conversation steers more towards normal stuff. They talk about what they're studying in school, how everyone knows each other, what they like to do for fun, things like that. Buffy and Riley had to edit their stories quite a bit, so as to not mention any Slayer related stuff. Still, it was nice to be able to sit around and have a 'normal' conversation, without it being about demons and monsters and eviscerations and such.

After breakfast, Riley takes Buffy on a hike through the woods. There's a trail that he used to like to walk as a kid, and he wanted to show it to Buffy. They walk along, quite content just to be in one another's presence. A twig snaps somewhere out in the bushes. Buffy stops and looks towards the sound.

"What is it?" asks Riley.

"I thought I heard something," says Buffy.

She tries to see through the bushes, but can't see very far. Riley looks as well, but the woods are very thick in this particular stretch of the trail and he can't see what made the sound either.

"It's nothing," he says, "Probably just an animal."

"What would an animal be doing out here?" asks Buffy. Again, she regrets saying it the moment the words leave her mouth.

"We're in the woods, Buffy. This is where they live."

"Sorry, I'm from the city. Most of the animals I see are in pet stores and zoos."

"Look, you're just jumpy, that's all. You've gotten so used to stuff jumping out and trying to kill you, you've forgotten how to relax. That's what we're here to do. Remember? Relax?"

"Yeah, I remember." Buffy looks back towards where she heard the sound, "I guess you're right. It probably was just an animal. Come on. Let's go back to the cabin."

"Whatever you want. This is your vacation."

"_Our_ vacation," she corrects him.

"Okay, come on. This trail loops around back to the cabin. At this point, it'll actually be quicker to just keep going rather than turning back."

Buffy and Riley join hands and continue walking down the path. As soon as they are no longer in view, a mysterious figure steps out from the bushes.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

When Riley and Buffy return to the cabin, they see that everyone else there has put on their swimsuits and are heading down to the lake. Riley and Buffy run inside and quickly get changed into their own swimsuits. Riley puts on a powder blue Speedo with yellow stripes down the sides, while Buffy puts on a hot pink thong bikini. They also grab their sun screen, some baggy clothes to wear over their swimsuits later on, and their sunglasses and towels, and then head out to join the others. When Buffy and Riley get to the dock, the others are all getting ready to go waterskiing.

"Hey Buffy," says Betsy, "Do you water ski?"

"Are you kidding?" says Buffy, "Honey, I'm from California. I was _born_ to water ski."

Buffy slips her bare feet into the water skis and grabs the tow rope. Riley and the others get into the boat and take off at high speed. Everyone's extremely impressed with Buffy's skill on the skis. She does some truly amazing acrobatic stunts while being dragged around the lake. Only Riley understands that this is due in a large way to her being The Slayer. After a while they switch places, until eventually everyone gets a turn on the skis.

When they eventually get tired of waterskiing, they dock the boat. Then they go swimming for a while, toss the football around, play Frisbee, or just sunbathe. They build a bonfire on the beach and roast hotdogs for lunch. After lunch they do even more horsing around in the water. Betsy and Amy take their tops off to keep from having any tan lines.

Eventually the sun goes down. The wind begins to pick up bit, making the evening even cooler. The guys build up the fire and grab some blankets from the cabin to keep the beach party going. Heather breaks out the marshmallows and they begin toasting them over the fire. Then Amy breaks out the chocolate and graham crackers so they can make s'mores.

"So what's next?" asks Buffy.

"Ley's tell ghost stories," says John.

"Come on," says Buffy, "Isn't that a little childish?"

""It's a Finn Family tradition," replies John, "Every time we sit around the campfire, we tell each other ghost stories."

"He's right," says Riley, "We used to do it all the time. Our parents even started it."

"Actually it was our grandparents," John corrects him, "Our parents just continued the tradition."

"Riley," says Buffy, "You know that I . . . I . . ." trying to come up with an excuse that doesn't involve mentioning that she's The Slayer and her whole life is one long horror story, "I'm not a very good story teller."

"Come on Buffy," says Debra, "It'll be fun."

"I'm sure you have some great stories to tell," Riley adds.

"Maybe she finds ghost stories too _scary_," says Betsy with a laugh.

"Well . . ."

"I'm sure whatever story you tell will be great," says Wes, "Just give it your best shot."

"Well . . . I guess . . ."

"Great!" exclaims Robert, "I was dreading going first. I'm kinda stumped on what story to tell."

"Okay, I do have a story," says Buffy. She takes a sip of beer to steady her nerves. She really didn't like having to perform in front of an audience, "What makes my story so scary is that it happens to be true."

"So it's one of those stories," Robert pipes in, "It _happened to a friend of a friend of mine_," he says sarcastically.

"Do you want me to tell this story or not?" says Buffy.

"We're sorry, Buffy," says Stephanie, "Go ahead and tell your story."

"Well," begins Buffy, "back in the year 1955, there was this teacher named Miss Newman. She taught English at Sunnydale High School. She was pretty new to the area, having just recently gotten her teaching degree. She was like, in her late twenties to early thirties. Anyway, she ended up falling in love with one of her students, a junior on the honor roll named James. The two of them began to see each other intimately."

"Wow, how romantic," says Amy, "Forbidden love."

"Yeah well, rumor of the affair got out," continues Buffy, "So to save her teaching career and James's academic future, she broke it off. But James wasn't willing to let her go that easily. On the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance, he tried to get her to take him back. When she refused, he pulled out a gun and tried to force her to admit that she still loved him. When she tried to calm him down and get him to give her the gun, James shot her dead."

"Creep," says Betsy.

"When he realized what he did, he went into the music room, put _I Only Have Eyes For You _on the record player, and then blew his brains out all over the classroom wall."

"Good!" says Heather, "Bastard kills his girlfriend. He deserved to die!"

"Good story Buffy," says Wes, "Not very scary though."

"Well if you guys would stop interrupting me, I could get to the scary part," she tells them.

"We're sorry Buffy," says Amy, "Go ahead with your story. I'm enjoying it so far."

"Okay," says Buffy, "So James shoots Miss Newman, and then kills himself. But so great is his grief, their spirits can't pass over into the afterlife. They're bound to the halls of Sunnydale High forever. And whenever the Sadie Hawkins Dance comes around, at the hour of the original murder, they possess the bodies of two people and relive their last minutes on Earth. James possesses a boy, Miss Newman possesses a girl, and reenacts the murder and suicide, always hoping to change the outcome. And they are doomed to continue this endless cycle until Miss Newman survives being shot, and forgives James for shooting her."

"Does she ever forgive him?" asks Amy.

"I don't know," replies Buffy, "The school blew up last year, so they have nowhere to haunt."

"Really?" asks Stephanie, "How'd that happed?"

"Oh, um, gas leak," says Buffy, "I guess that goes to show why you should never smoke in the bathroom at school."

"So that's it?" says Robert, "That's your story?"

"Hey, I told you I wasn't very good at telling stories."

"Well I liked it," says Amy, "It was romantic and creepy."

"Okay, well I've got a story for you guys," says John, "And this one isn't just true. It also happened . . . at this . . . very . . . lake."

"Oh," says Riley, "I love this one."

"Don't spoil it!" warns Amy, "I haven't heard it yet."

"Me either!" says Betsy.

"Go ahead, John," says Debra.

"Okay," says John, "Right across the lake there used to be this summer camp for kids. It was called Camp Crystal Lake. You guys might have noticed the rundown old cabins while we were waterskiing. you can still see the camp from right here on the beach during the day if you look across the lake with binoculars. Anyway, back in 1957 there was this little boy named Jason Voorhees. He was born with some sort of birth defect, caused him to be hideously deformed. Well, his mom, Pamela, took a cooking job at the camp. But because she was divorced . . ."

"I thought she was a widow," says Riley.

"Hey, I'm telling the story!" replies John.

"Sorry," Riley apologizes.

"Now where was I?" says John, "Oh yeah! Well, divorced or widowed, in any case she was a single mom. So she brought Jason to camp with her so she could keep an eye on him. One day, when she was preparing lunch, a couple of the camp counselors snuck off into the bushes for a little hanky panky. Now, no one knows exactly what happens next. Some say that Jason tried to swim out and play with the other kids, others say bullies pushed him into the water. In any event, Jason drowned."

"Oh, poor kid," says Amy.

"Yeah well, Mrs. Voorhees had a complete mental breakdown. Her son was her whole world, and hearing that Jason had drowned just crushed her. She had to be sedated and hospitalized. They dragged the lake, but couldn't find Jason's body. After a few months of intense therapy, Pamela Voorhees was released from the mental institution. Soon after her release, she disappeared. The following year, two camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake were found brutally murdered."

"Was it Pamela?" asks Buffy.

"That's what the working theory was at the time," says John, "But no one knew where to find her. She had fallen completely off the grid. And remember, this was the 1950's. It was a lot harder to track someone down back then than it is today. But because they couldn't find her, and they had no other suspects, the murders went unsolved. The camp closed down after that. Every once in a while the owners would try and reopen it. Every time, something would stop them from opening. Fires, poisoned water, whatever. No one could ever be caught sabotaging the place though. After a while, the place developed a reputation for being cursed. The townies even nicknamed the camp 'Camp Blood'."

"So that's what RJ was going on about," says Buffy.

"Well, in 1978, Steve Christy inherited the place from his parents. He took out a loan from the bank and started fixing the place up. He planned on making it a camp for underprivileged kids. He spent a year fixing it up. Finally he was nearly ready for his grand reopening. He hired a bunch of kids from the city as camp counselors and to help with the last minute repairs. Then, on Friday, June 13th 1979, someone stalked and killed each of the counselors . . . one . . . by . . . one."

"Pamela Voorhees," says Buffy.

"Right," replies John, "She had gone through them all, one at a time, until there was only one counselor left. A girl named Alice. But Alice was made of tougher stuff than Pamela realized. Once she realized Pamela was the killer, Alice fought back."

"Good for her!" says Betsy.

"Alice managed to wrestle Pamela's machete away from her. Then she took the machete, and chopped Pamela Voorhees's head right off!"

"Yeah!" cheers Heather.

"Way to go Alice!" exclaims Betsy.

"That's what I would've done," says Buffy.

"Now you would think that the terror of Crystal Lake would be over," says John, "But in fact, it's just beginning. Two months after surviving that night at Camp Blood, that Friday The 13th, Alice disappeared. The kitchen in the house she had rented in town was covered in blood. Her body was never found. Legend has it, Jason Voorhees rose from the grave to seek revenge for his mother's death. A revenge he will continue to seek if anyone should ever wander into his woods."

"Really," says Buffy, now feeling a little uneasy.

"Five years after the original murders, a man named Paul Holtz opened up a counselor training camp just a few miles away from the remains of Camp Crystal Lake. He wanted to teach kids how to be effective camp counselors so that tragedies like what happened to Jason in 1957 wouldn't happen to other kids. Once more, one by one, someone was killing off the camp counselors."

"Jason," says Buffy.

"Jason," says John, "One by one, he stalked and murdered each and every counselor at the camp. Until there were only two left. Paul, and his girlfriend Ginny. Jason attacked Paul first. Then, leaving Paul for dead, he went after Ginny. Ginny managed to keep Jason from killing her long enough for Paul to come to her aid. Then the two of them managed to team up on Jason, and take him down by stabbing him through the chest with his own machete. But you can't kill something that's already dead. Jason crawled away and took up residence in the barn of the Higgins family's summer cabin, just a little ways from here. As it happened, Christine Higgins and a bunch of her friends were spending that weekend at the cabin."

"Let me guess," says Buffy.

"One by one, Jason stalked and killed all of Christine's friends, until she was the only one left. She tried to hide from him in the barn, but Jason came after her. When he was distracted by a friend of hers that wasn't quite dead, she took and axe and whacked him right in the head. He went down and didn't get back up."

"Yeah! Way to go Christine!" says Heather.

"The police and paramedics took Jason's body to the county morgue. There, Jason got up off of the autopsy table, killed the medical examiner, and then gutted a nurse like a fish on his way out the door. On his way back to Camp Crystal Lake, he stumbled across the Jarvis household. The house next door was being rented for the weekend by a bunch of college students. So Jason stalked and killed them, one by one, until the only ones left were Trish Jarvis, and her twelve year old brother Tommy. When Jason was distracted by Trish, Tommy took up Jason's machete and hacked him up until there was nothing left to rise up and continue killing."

"Go Tommy, go!" says Robert.

"Tommy was so traumatized by the events of that night, he had to be hospitalized. His sister, Trish, was sent to live with her father. They buried Jason's body next to his psycho loony mother. He remains there to this day. But every once in a while, when June 13th lands on a Friday, the murders start up again. They say Jason's thirst for vengeance is so great, even death itself won't stop him."

Just then the alarm on John's watch goes off, "Look at that," he says, "It's midnight. Happy Friday the 13th everyone."

"Whoa," says Wes, "Great story."

"Yeah," says Buffy, "Great. Riley, I'm getting kinda chilly. I'm gonna go get my sweater. Come with me?"

"You don't need a sweater Buff," says Riley, "I'll keep you warm." He puts his arm around her shoulders.

"I'd really like to get my sweater," says Buffy, "_Now_."

"Right," says Riley, "your sweater." He turns to the others around the fire, "We'll be right back." The two of them walk off towards the cabin.

"I think you scared Buffy," laughs Robert.

"If you think she's scared now," says Wes, "Just wait until I tell her my story of The Springwood Slasher and the kids of Elm Street. She won't be able to sleep for a week"

Buffy and Riley walk quickly up the path to the cabin. As they approach the door, a dark figure watches them enter the cabin from the shadows.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

As soon as they're inside the cabin, Buffy whirls on Riley. "_Are you insane_?" she hisses at him, "Why on _Earth_, out of all the places you could have taken me for a vacation, did you choose a lake that's _cursed_? What, you couldn't get reservations in _Hell_?"

"What are you talking about?" asks Riley.

"What am I talking about? What? Are you, like, totally mentally challenged or something?"

"Buffy . . ."

"There's an undead serial killer with a machete, who likes to kill people on Friday the 13th, running around in the woods. And you take me here for vacation? On Friday the 13th no less!"

"Buffy, Jason's just an old legend!" Riley tells her, "He's not real!"

"So all that stuff John said was just made up?"

"Well . . . not exactly."

"What do you mean 'Not exactly'? Riley? _Riley_?"

"Well . . . Jason was a real person. He really did drown in 1957. And his mother did actually go on a killing spree at Camp Crystal lake and got killed by one of her intended victims."

"And that girl's disappearance?"

"That's real too, but it was never actually tied to Jason or her mother."

"And those other murders?"

"They all really happened, but not by any undead monster. The person who committed those murders was as human as you and me. Just very deranged. They think he may have believed himself to actually be Jason Voorhees. They couldn't prove or disprove it, because his fingerprints and dental records didn't match anything they had on file. They buried him next to Pamela Voorhees, and put Jason Voorhees on his headstone, just because they didn't know what else to do with him and they wanted to put an end to the stories that he didn't drown and was living in the woods somewhere."

"And the other murders since his burial?"

"Copycats. One was a paramedic named Roy Burns. Another was actually the kid who killed this alleged Jason, Tommy Jarvis. He killed a bunch of people, including the sheriff and his deputies, kidnapped the sheriff's daughter, then disappeared. Nobody's seen him since."

"And you're sure he isn't out there still killing people?"

"Buffy, really? An undead serial killer? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"

"Riley, what the hell do you think vampires are?"

"Yeah, but that's different."

"Different how?"

"Vampires are freshly killed bodies possessed by demons. Jason, if the guy Tommy killed even was Jason, isn't fresh. He's been rotting in a coffin for years."

"You know, there are other types of undead Riley. I know! I've fought them all! Mummies, zombies, and more than my fair share of vampires!"

"But those all require some sort of spell or ritual or demon possession to rise from the dead. Jason isn't a vampire, Buffy. He's Jack The Ripper in a hockey mask."

"Actually," says Buffy, "Jack The Ripper was a vampire."

"He was? How do you know?"

"When I first began my Slayer training, I asked my first watcher Merick about vampires I would have heard of. He told me that Jack The Ripper and the Roman emperor Caligula were."

"Caligula and Jack The Ripper were both vampires?"

"Yep. The same one actually."

"Look, Buffy, as fascinating as all this is, the fact remains that Jason is just a legend. That's all, nothing more."

"Riley, before the government recruited you into The Initiative, what did you think vampires and demons were?"

"I see your point."

"This begs to be researched. I think I ought to call Giles."

"Buffy, it's midnight."

"Yeah, but California's three hours behind us. So it's only 9:00 in Sunnydale."

"True, but have you forgotten that his friend Olivia is visiting him this week? I'm sure the last thing they want is your . . . um . . ."

"Coitus interuptus?"

"Exactly. You can call him tomorrow. Besides. I give you my word, you have nothing to be frightened of."

"Oh! . . . You're so lucky you're cute!"

"Okay, so go get your sweater and let's go back with the others. I understand Wes has a really scary story for us."

"I can't wait," says Buffy sarcastically.

She runs upstairs and grabs her sweater. She didn't really need it, it was quite comfortable by the fire actually. But she had used getting her sweater as a ruse to be able to talk to Riley about Slayer stuff while out of earshot of the others. Going back without it would look strange. She slips it on and then the two of them head back down the trail to the lake. As they walk down the path, a dark shape stands on a heavy tree branch above them.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

The dark figure drops down in front of Buffy and Riley. He carries a machete in his hand, and has a Bowie knife belted to his hip. He's wearing dirty blue jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt. His face is covered by an old hockey mask with faded red arrows in the cheeks and forehead.

With lightning quick reflexes, Buffy kicks the machete out of the attacker's hand, sending it flying end over end up into the air. Then in the blink of and eye, she does and amazing spinning thrust kick, driving her foot right into their assailant's chest. The masked man goes flying backward, slamming hard into the trunk of a very large oak tree, at least ten feet behind where he was standing.

Buffy reaches her hand up and lets the machete fall into her grasp, grabbing it by the handle with ease. She runs at her dazed attacker with the machete raised to strike, but at the last second Riley steps in between them.

"Buffy, no!" he shouts.

"What?" says The Slayer, "What the hell, Riley?"

Riley reaches down and pulls the hockey mask off of the attacker's face. He's a young man, maybe seventeen years old, with short dark hair. He looks like a much younger version of Riley's cousin, John.

"This is my cousin Sean," Riley explains, "John's little brother." Then Riley turns to his cousin, "Sean, what the hell are you doing?"

"At the moment?" asks Sean, "I think I'm bleeding internally."

"What the hell are you doing jumping out at me like that?" says Buffy, "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"It was just a joke," he replies, "Trying to scare you, is all."

"You're lucky I didn't take your damn head off!"

"No kidding," says Sean as he gets back to his feet, "What are you, like a twentieth degree blackbelt or something?"

"Or something," says Buffy.

"How long have you been out here?" Riley asks him.

"A few days. I've been camping over where the Shepherd's place used to be"

"What do you mean used to be?" asks Riley.

"You remember that little girl who used to live there with her folks? Tina?"

"Yeah. Cute little blonde kid right? Yeah, I remember her."

"Well, you heard about what happened to her dad?"

"Yeah, he drowned. The dock collapsed under him or something."

"Yeah, well Tina saw it happen, and it messed her up something awful. She ended up in a mental hospital. So anyway, last year her mom and her doctor brought her out here for some intense psychotherapy. Something about facing her fears or confronting her personal demons or whatever. Well, the whole thing blew up in the doctor's face . . . literally. Tina pulled a Tommy Jarvis."

"A Tommy Jarvis?" asks Buffy.

"She went total ape shit. Killed her doctor, her mom, the kids who rented the house next door for a birthday party, everyone. Then she blew up the house. She tried to tell the cops that Jason did it. That Jason Voorhees rose from the dead and murdered everyone, if you can believe that. Last I heard, she was sent back to the mental hospital where they keep her restrained and heavily sedated. Her boyfriend's up in Sing-Sing doing life without parole for accessory to murder."

"Wow," says Riley.

"Yeah," says Buffy, looking right at Riley, "Wow."

"We're heading over to the beach," says Riley, "We're gonna drink a few beers, toast some s'mores, and tell ghost stories. You wanna join us?"

"No thanks," says Sean, "I've got a pretty sweet set up out in the bush. Besides, I hate s'mores. Even the name. 'They taste so good you gotta have s'more.' Yech. Besides, it's gonna storm later tonight. I wanna be in my tent before the rain really starts coming down."

"Suit yourself."

"And no more jumping out at people," says Buffy, "There are far more dangerous things in the woods tonight than maniacs with machetes."

"Yeah?" says Sean, "Like what?"

Buffy whips the machete at Sean's head. It sticks into the tree just behind him, mere inches above the top of his skull. The blade buries itself into the trunk of the massive oak, almost to the handle. Sean looks up at the handle of his machete, still vibrating from the impact. He looks back at Buffy in amazement, completely dumbfounded.

"Like me."

"How . . ."

Buffy just shrugs. "It's all in the wrist," she says.

Buffy and Riley start walking back towards the others. As soon as she's sure Sean isn't within earshot, she turns to Riley.

"Another copycat killer?" she says challengingly.

"We'll call Giles tomorrow," says Riley, himself beginning to doubt that the legends no more than that, just a legend, "I promise."

They get back to the bonfire and sit down with the others.

"What was all that shouting?" John asks them.

"Sean decided to pull a practical joke on us," explains Riley, "Buffy didn't find it very amusing."

"Oh God, I'm sorry about him. You know what a pain little brothers can be," says John.

"Actually, no." replies Buffy, "I'm an only child."

"Oh," says John, "Then take it from someone who knows. They're a pain in the ass."

Just then, lightning strikes in the distance. And a moment later, a thunder clap roars across the valley.

"I guess Wes's story will have to wait until tomorrow night," says Riley, "We'd all better get inside before that storm hits and we all get drenched."

They all pack up their gear and start heading back towards the cabin.

"I can't believe how fast the weather turned," says Buffy, "It was so nice out today, and now it's about to storm."

"Yeah, the weather out here can turn on a dime," says Robert, "It can be beautiful and sunny out one minute, then piss pouring rain the next."

"I heard it has something to do with the way the mountains are positioned around the lake," says Stephanie, "It causes a rapid shift in temperatures, especially after the sun goes down, which causes sudden rain storms. Or something like that."

No sooner do they get to the cabins front porch than the rain starts to come pouring down. They all quickly head inside. John immediately goes over to the fireplace and starts building a fire to warm up the living room. Debra and Stephanie volunteer to put on some coffee.

"So what are we gonna do now?" asks Buffy.

"I know," says Amy, "Do you guys have a Monopoly set?"

"We should," says John, "I haven't played it in years though."

"I don't really like Monopoly," says Buffy, "I play it with my friends Xander and Anya sometimes. Anya always wins."

"You'll like it the way Betsy and I play it," says Amy as she digs out the Monopoly board, "We're gonna play Strip Monopoly."

"No way!" says Buffy.

"Sure!" says Amy, "Look, it's easy. Instead of paying rent, you pay clothes."

"Sounds like fun!" says Wes, "I'm in!"

"Me too," says Heather.

"Hey girls!" Robert calls into the kitchen, "You wanna play Strip Monopoly?"

"Sounds like fun!" says Stephanie.

"Count me in!" calls Debra.

Everyone looks over to Buffy and Riley.

"Fine, we'll play," says Buffy, "But I get to be the shoe!"

Across the lake, just off shore from where the Shepherd's place once stood, a lightning bolt strikes the lake. Then another. Then a third. Beneath the waves, the decomposing body of Jason Voorhees lies impaled upon a steel rebar. The steel rebar acts like a lightning rod, drawing the electricity from the storm into it. The gloved hand of Jason grasps the steel pole he's impaled on. With superhuman strength, he bends the steel until it snaps off as though it were made of wood. He pulls himself from the rebar which was pinning him to the bottom of the lake, then begins his slow walk towards shore. The rain is coming down in sheets as his rotting head crests the water. His bones are exposed through the many cuts and gunshots he had endured over the years. There's a long gash along one side of his face, his left eye now long gone. There's an axe wound in his forehead. And around his rotted neck, a rusted heavy steel chain is locked in place with a heavy duty padlock. The undead killer wades out of the lake, and walks off into the woods.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Silently, the rotting undead form of Jason Voorhees glides through the darkened woods. The rain is coming down as thick as lead. He senses that there are trespassers nearby. As silent as death, he let his instincts drive him forward. He eventually comes upon a campsite. Someone has set up a tent and had built a campfire nearby. The fire is nearly out now, extinguished by the heavy pouring rain. There's an old tree stump that the camper has been using as a chopping block, a stack of firewood sitting next to it with a tarp draped over it to keep it dry. Stuck into the tree stump is an axe, and hanging from the axe handle is a hockey mask. Jason casually walks over to the chopping block and takes the mask. He slips it on over his rotting deformed face. Then he grabs the axe and pulls it free from the stump.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

There's a light on inside the tent, the camper's silhouette is visible against the canvas walls. Inside, Sean is changing his clothes. He had miscalculated how long it would take him to get back to camp, and he got caught in the pouring rain. He pulls out a towel and dries his hair. As he's briskly rubbing his head with the towel, a twig outside snaps. Sean stops for a moment and listens, but there's no other sound. He shrugs and goes rummaging through his backpack. He pulls out a joint and gives it a whiff.

"Ah, sweet Mary Jane. How I love thee."

He puts the joint between his lips and lights it up, inhaling the smoke as deeply as he can. He exhales the smoke with a satisfied smile. He takes another deep drag off the joint when he hears another twig snap.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

"Hello?"

Suddenly the tent collapses on his head. Sean struggles to get out of the opening. When he gets out, he sees that someone has pulled up the stake that the line which holds up one of the tent poles had been pulled up.

"Very funny guys! Ha ha!" he calls out sarcastically, "Riley? If that's you I swear I'm gonna get you back for that!"

Sean then starts to fix his tent so that he can get out of the rain. As he's busy doing that, he sees a pair of waterlogged boots and soaking wet torn jeans walking towards him. He looks up just in time to see Jason bring the axe down into his face. Jason reaches down and pulls the Bowie knife from Sean's belt. He takes a moment to admire the large blade, and then walks off into the gloom.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Buffy and Riley enter their room giggling. Buffy's wearing her bikini and carrying her clothes, while Riley is wearing only a towel.

"I can't believe I actually won at Monopoly," says Buffy.

"Hey, one more stay at one of my hotels and I would've had you out of that bikini."

"Who says I have to land on one of your hotels for you to manage that?"

Riley wraps Buffy in a deep embrace and kisses her passionately. She tenses up a moment later.

"What is it?" asks Riley, "What's wrong?"

"I'm still kinda wigged about the whole Jason thing," she says, "My Spidey Sense is tingling."

"Look, we'll call Giles tomorrow. I promise. Okay?"

"Okay."

Riley kisses her again, this time untying her bikini top. Her bikini falls to the floor. First the top, then the bottoms, followed immediately by Riley's towel. They crawl into the hammock and cover themselves with the heavy quilts. They turn out the lights and spend the night making passionate love to one another. Buffy wakes up the next morning, once again all alone. She gets up and puts some clothes on, then heads downstairs. Riley's in the kitchen again, cooking breakfast. Today it's blueberry pancakes. She walks over and gives Riley a hug and a kiss.

"Mornin'," she says, "Where's the phone? I gotta call home and check in."

"Buffy, it's only 8:30," says Riley, "Everyone at home is still asleep. Wait until lunch."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," says Buffy, "There's nothing worse than a grumpy librarian."

"Sure there is," says Betsy, "A hungry lesbian. Now pass those pancakes down here!"

Buffy sits down at the table and helps herself to some pancakes, then passes them down to Betsy. Riley was right, it was way too early to bother Giles with something that might just be an urban myth. Besides, if she was going to talk Scooby business with her watcher, it's best to do it when there aren't any civilians around. Secret identities always seemed so much cooler in the movies. In reality, they're a pain in the ass.

Miles down the road, a telephone repair truck stops by a telephone pole. The rain had stopped hours before, although the sky is still overcast. The phone and power lines that lead from the town to the lake require constant maintenance. Animals create nests on the telephone poles, tree branches get tangled with the cables, rednecks use the protective glass cylinders for target practice, all make communication between the town and the cabins and private homes by the lake difficult. And there are no cellular towers for miles in any direction, making cell phones totally useless out by the water. The two repair workers get out of the truck. One is a dark haired man in his forties with a goatee named Harry, the other is an attractive woman in her thirties with short dark blonde hair named Adrienne. Adrienne straps her climbing spikes onto her ankles, then grabs the Kevlar pole climbing strap from the bed of the truck.

"How many of these do we have left to do?" she asks Harry.

"Still a ways to go before we're done," Harry replies, "We gotta go all the way down to the lake."

Adrienne loops the strap around the telephone pole and hooks the ends to her safety harness. "You know, things would be a lot simpler if the town would just build a cell tower out here," she says.

"Yeah, but then you and I would be out of a job."

Harry watches as Adrienne begins to scale the telephone pole. "Is it wrong for me to get aroused by the sight of you climbing a massive pole?"

"Flatterer!" she calls back.

They both laugh as she continues to shimmy up the pole. She then settles in and begins checking for damage and doing repairs.

"How are things going up there?" Harry shouts up after a couple of minutes.

"Fine!" Adrienne replies, "This one should only take a few minutes!"

"Are you okay here by yourself? I gotta take a leak!"

"Yeah, I'll be fine! Next time, don't drink so much coffee before we go out!"

"Yes dear!" he says sarcastically, "I'll be right back!"

Harry heads off into the bushes, leaving Adrienne at the top of the telephone pole doing repairs. As soon as he's out of sight from the truck, he ducks behind a large fir tree. He unzips his pants and begins to relieve himself. He sighs in relief, as he had been holding that in for quite a while.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Harry turns around to find himself standing face to face with Jason. Before he can react, Jason covers Harry's mouth with his hand and slams him up against the tree. Harry pushes against Jason's arm with all of his strength, but to no avail. Jason's grip is like iron. Jason raises the large Bowie knife he took from Sean, pointing the tip of the blade right between Harry's eyes. Harry tries desperately to scream, but any sound he makes is muffled by Jason's hand. Jason drives the knife forward, ramming it through Harry's head and pinning him to the tree. Harry's body goes limp, and he hangs there as Jason releases his hold. The masked killer turns and looks towards the truck.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Adrienne is still up on top of the telephone pole. The wear and tear on this pole isn't nearly as bad as she had feared, and was already nearly done with the repairs. She looks down at the ground below and notices Harry hasn't come back from relieving himself yet. She shrugs and goes back to work.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Jason steps out of the bushes, and looks up at Adrienne hard at work on top of the telephone pole. He walks over to their truck and looks inside the bed. There are all kinds of tools for telephone repair and maintenance. There's even a chainsaw for trimming overgrown tree branches which entangle the phone lines. Jason reaches into the truck and grabs the chainsaw.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Adrienne is just finishing up with her work when she notices, again, that Harry hasn't returned. "Okay, I'm done up here!" she says "You about ready to go?"

No answer.

"Harry? Harry? Harry, are you joking around?"

Suddenly she hears someone revving up a chainsaw. She looks down at the base of the pole and sees Jason standing there with an idling chainsaw in his hands.

"Who are you?" she asks. No answer. "What are you doing?" Again, no answer.

Jason hits the gas on the chainsaw and starts cutting into the telephone pole.

"Hey, now cut that out! That's not funny!"

Jason cuts a large wedge out of the pole.

"Okay, bad choice of words!" says Adrienne, "Please stop it! You're scaring me!"

Jason continues cutting into the telephone pole, felling it like a lumberjack would fall a tree. The pole falls over and lands right on Adrienne, pinning her beneath it. Jason slowly walks along the length of the pole. Adrienne's coughing up blood as she tries to push the heavy log off of her. She sees Jason standing above her, the chainsaw idling in his hands.

"No. Please, no."

Jason cranks up the gas and runs the chainsaw at top speed, then slowly lowers it towards her chest.

"No. No. Please, no," she begs. Then as the chainsaw gets closer she begins to scream, "No! Nooo! Please no! Nooo! Pleeease! Pleeeease no! Noooo!"

Jason drives the blade of the chainsaw through her chest, covering them both with her blood. He then takes a tool from her tool belt. It's a hatchet, with the head of a hammer built into the blunt side of the tool. He turns and walks off, back into the woods.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Buffy and Riley are finally alone in the cabin. The others have all decided to go skinny dipping in the lake. Riley told them that he and Buffy would join them momentarily, they just needed to call home and check in. Buffy picks up the phone and dials.

At Giles's apartment, the phone rings. An attractive black woman, wearing a Sunnydale High t-shirt as a nightshirt, answers the phone.

"Hello?" she says in a British accent.

"Um, hello?" says a young woman's voice on the other end, "Who's this?"

"I'm Olivia," says the black woman, "Are you looking for Rupert?"

"Yes!" says the girl with relief in her voice. She obviously thought she might have dialed the wrong number.

"Just a moment," says Olivia, "Rupert! You have a telephone call!"

Giles walks out of the bathroom, wearing a bathrobe and drying his hair with a towel. He comes over to Olivia, gives her a kiss, then takes the phone.

"Hello?" he says as he puts on his glasses.

"Giles?"

"Cordelia?" says Giles in surprise, "Why on Earth are you calling me?"

"I need to talk to Buffy," Cordelia tells him, "Do you know where she is?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't," admits Giles, "She went on vacation with her boyfriend. They didn't tell me where they were going, only that they needed time away from the Hell Mouth for a while."

"You don't know where she is?" says Cordy incredulously, "But you're her watcher!"

"I haven't been Buffy's watcher for some time," says Giles, "I was fired by the council last year. Remember? Then she quit the council when they refused to help Angel."

"I know that!" says Cordelia, frustrated, "I just figured she'd check in with you, for emergencies and stuff."

"No, I haven't heard from her since she left on Monday. What's all this about?"

"I've had a vision! She's in terrible danger!"

"You say you've had a vision?"

"Yes, a vision! Why, did I stutter?"

"No, it's just . . . Since when have you been having visions"

"Ever since Doyle kissed me a few months ago."

"So some boy kisses you and all of a sudden you're getting psychic visions?"

"Not some boy! Doyle! He was a friend of Angel's, remember?"

"The chap who warned him about the Indian Vengeance Spirit last Thanksgiving."

"Right, that one. Look, Doyle died a few months ago . . ."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"Yeah, well . . . Right before he died he kissed me, and I guess he worked some kind of mojo on me, because ever since then I've been getting his visions."

"And these visions . . . They're never wrong?"

"Wrong? No. Incredibly painful. Usually vague. Often hard to interpret. But never wrong."

"Now Cordelia, I need you to tell me precisely what you saw."

"There was this guy. He was big, like a football player. He was all slimy and gross, like some kind of monster or zombie or something. His face was hidden by a mask. Like what goalies wear for hockey? I saw Buffy screaming. Then I saw someone swinging a knife, or maybe a machete. Then there was a splatter of blood. Then I passed out. If The Powers That Be had sent me any other images, I couldn't see them through the pain."

"A slimy zombie monster in a hockey mask. Are you sure?"

"That's what I saw. Whatever this guy is, if I got a vision of him, he's bad news."

"Thank you Cordelia," says Giles, "I believe Joyce knows where Riley took Buffy for their vacation. I'll give her a call right away."

"I already tried that. There wasn't any answer."

"In that case I'll swing by, just to make sure everything's alright and find out where Buffy went."

"Okay. Be careful."

"I shall, thank you. And thank you for the warning."

"I only hope I called in time to be of some help."

"As do I," says Giles, "Goodbye."

Giles hangs up the phone and then heads immediately up to his bedroom.

"Rupert?" asks Olivia, "What's wrong?"

"Get dressed," he tells her, "I think Buffy is in incredible danger. I have to find her and warn her."

"You mean that nice blonde girl I met the last time I was here?" she asks, "I thought you said she was some kind of superhero or something."

"She's The Slayer," replies Giles, "But she's not invulnerable. If whatever this is that Cordelia saw in her vision is coming after her, then she has to be warned."

Giles and Olivia quickly get dressed and run out the door. They have to catch a cab to take them to Buffy's house, as Spike had destroyed Giles's car several months earlier and he still has not received his insurance cheque.

Buffy hangs up the phone. "The line's dead," she says.

"Are you sure?" asks Riley.

"I know how to use a phone, Riley. There's no dial tone. We can't call out and nobody can call in."

"What do you suppose it means?"

"Maybe nothing," says Buffy, "Or maybe that all of us won't leave this lake alive."

"Now don't go jumping to any conclusions. Let's talk to the others. There could be a logical explanation for this."

"Okay, come on."

Buffy and Riley head down to the lake. Everyone's splashing around naked, and having a great time. Amy swims up to the dock and rests against one of the support posts.

"Come on you two," she says, "Don't be shy. Strip and dip."

"In a minute," says Buffy.

John comes swimming over. "Everything okay back home?" he asks.

"I don't know," replies Buffy, "I couldn't get through. The line's dead."

"Maybe it's Jason," says Amy sarcastically, "Cutting off our lines of communication so that we can't call for help when he starts killing us off one by one. _Ooooo-eeeee-oooo_!"

"Relax," says John, "I got a notice from the phone company last week. They're doing some routine maintenance this weekend. We were warned that there could be some temporary interruptions in our phone service. The phones'll be up and running by dinner time. Or tomorrow morning at the latest."

"You see, Buffy?" says Riley, "I told you there's nothing to worry about."

"I guess you're right," replies Buffy, "I guess I'm just a city girl at heart. Being out in the woods is just giving me the wiggins."

"Luckily I have the perfect remedy for that," says Riley.

"Oh? And what's that?" Buffy asks him.

"This . . ." and he pushes her into the water.

Buffy hits the water with a big splash and everyone cheers and laughs. She emerges from beneath the surface, treading water and glaring up at her boyfriend. "I'm gonna get you for that!" she says.

Riley laughs, then immediately strips naked and dives in. He emerges right next to Buffy and kisses her. "I look forward to it," he says.

"Hey," says Amy, "This _is supposed _to be a skinny dip. Remember? I think _someone_ here is a little over dressed."

Buffy laughs. She peels off her wet clothes and throws them up onto the dock. Once she's naked she joins Riley and the others for more fun and games.

Giles and Olivia get to Buffy's house shortly after leaving his apartment and knock on the door. Buffy's mom answer's the door a moment later.

"Rupert, hello!" she says in surprise, "What are you doing here? Is everything alright?"

"Joyce, it's very important that I get in touch with Buffy! It's a matter of life and death!"

"Well, come in," she says.

Giles and Olivia step into the house. "Hello," Joyce says to Olivia, "I'm Joyce."

"Olivia," comes the reply as she shakes Joyce's hand, "You have a lovely home."

"Why thank you," replies Mrs. Summers.

"Ladies, I'm as keen on proper etiquette as any Englishman. But I wasn't exaggerating when I said this was a matter of life and death."

"Of course," says Joyce, "What do you need?"

"I need to know where Riley took Buffy, and if they left you a phone number where they can be reached."

"Yo Giles!" says Xander as he and Anya walk into the living room carrying sandwiches, "What's up?"

"What are you two doing here?" he asks them.

"Joyce is paying Xander to help her around the house," Anya replies.

"Plus she makes us lunch," adds Xander, "And doesn't charge us for it either."

"Very good," says Giles, "Now Joyce, do you know where Buffy went?"

"Riley said he was taking her to a cabin his family owns out in New Jersey. It's by a lake . . . Crystal Lake."

"Did he give you a phone number so you can keep in touch?"

"No. I think they wanted as much alone time as they can get. Why? What's wrong?"

"I got a phone call from Cordelia. She says that some sort of creature in a hockey mask is after Buffy."

"What? You mean Jason Voorhees is gonna take on The Slayer?" asks Xander.

"Excuse me?" says Giles, "Jason Voorhees?"

"Yeah," says Xander innocently, "You said she was going to Crystal Lake, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, if you believe the stories about that place, the vengeful spirit of a little boy who drowned in the lake haunts those woods."

"How do _you_ know this?"

"What? I can't have knowledge?"

"It's just that it happens so rarely, it always comes as quite a shock."

"Well, we were studying urban myths and legends in tenth grade sociology. I decided to write my report on the legend of Camp Blood. After discovering I was going to school right over top of a Hell Mouth, it seemed to be a good choice."

"What is this legend?" asks Giles, "How does the story go?"

"Well," says Xander, chewing thoughtfully on his sandwich, "There are basically two versions of the story. One is fairly plausible if you don't believe in magic, the other is more Hell Mouthy."

"Start with the first one," Giles tells him.

"Okay. Well, they both start off relatively the same, with Jason Voorhees drowning as a young boy at Camp Crystal Lake back in 1957. This drives his mother, Pamela, ape shit crazy."

"Xander! Language!" Mrs. Summers scolds him.

"Sorry. Anyway, the kids of the original owners, the Christies, inherited the camp from their folks like twenty or so years later. The eldest, Steve, decides to fix the place up and reopen it. He hires a bunch of kids to help out with fixing it up and taking care of the kids once it reopens. Then on Friday June 13th, Pamela Voorhees arrives at the camp and stalks and kills each of the people there, until there's only one left, a girl named Alice. But Alice wasn't going to go down without a fight, and she chopped Pamela's head off with Pamela's own machete."

"Oh my," says Joyce.

"Now here is where you get variations on the story. Some people claim that Jason didn't actually drown in 1957. You see, they never found his body. Rumor was that he washed up on shore on the other side of the lake. Then for whatever reason, rather than seeking help, he decided to live alone in the wilderness. Living off of whatever he could forage, or steal. And on the night of his mother's death, he watched as she murdered in his name, and witnessed her decapitation."

"Good Lord," says Giles.

"Five years later, campers start to return to Crystal Lake. They figured that enough time had passed since The Crystal Lake Massacre that the danger had passed. They were wrong. One by one Jason stalked them, killing them without mercy, in a Four day long bloodbath. Until finally, the one person to stop Jason's carnage, was a little twelve year old boy named Tommy, who hacked up Jason's body until there was no way he'd ever get up again."

"And the more . . . _Hell Mouthy_ . . . version?" asks Giles.

"In that version, Jason did drown as a little boy. But when his vengeful mother was killed, her blood somehow awoke Jason's spirit and resurrected him as some sort of undead killing machine. Now, before I met you and Buffy, I would have put my money on Version #1. But now, let's just say I'm willing to think outside the box. Especially with what happens later."

"Why?" asks Giles, "What happens later?"

"Like, ten years or so after Jason was killed and buried. The kid who killed him, Tommy, he decides that the only way to make sure Crystal Lake stays safe forever is to cremate Jason's body. So he loads his truck up with gas cans, then goes and digs up Jason's grave. But before he can dowse the body with gasoline and burn it, it's struck by lightning and gets reanimated. Then Jason started his killing anew. Tommy tried to warn the town that Jason was back, but nobody believed him. So he had to stop Jason himself, by returning him to his original resting place. The bottom of the lake where he drowned in 1957. According to the stories, he succeeded and then disappeared."

"Wait," says Giles, "If this Tommy chap disappeared, and no one believed his story, then how did you learn about it."

"There were witnesses," explains Xander, "But no one believed them because they were all just a bunch of kids."

"Well, given my years of being a watcher and living on the Hell Mouth for so long, I'm given to believe the latter story to be the truth. I've just never encountered an undead being such as the one you've described."

"It's a revenant," says Anya.

"Excuse me?" says Giles.

"It's a revenant," Anya replies, "An undead spirit inhabiting and reanimating its mortal body seeking vengeance."

"I've heard of such creatures," admits Giles, "But I've been given to understand that they're the souls of murder victims whose killers had escaped justice."

"Like Brandon Lee in The Crow," says Xander.

"You're so cute," Anya says as she pinches Xander's cheek like an annoying aunt. "Big black birds have nothing to do with the resurrection of a spirit as a revenant. It's their thirst for vengeance."

"I still don't understand how this Jason boy could return as a revenant," says Giles, "Don't they stop killing once their goal is accomplished?"

"Like Brandon Lee in The Crow," Xander says again.

"Usually that's the case," says Anya, "But I think what you guys are describing is a rogue revenant."

"I've never heard of such a thing," says Giles, "Are you sure?"

"Revenants are exceedingly rare," says Anya, "In my thousand years as a vengeance demon, I've only ever encountered ten. But on very, very rare occasions, a persons anger and hatred towards the entire world at large is so great, they rise as a rogue revenant. And when that happens, no amount of blood will satisfy their bloodlust. They will keep killing until they are stopped."

"How often does this happen?" asks Giles.

"If this is a rogue revenant, it's only the second that I've ever heard of in the last thousand years. The first I heard about second hand, from D'Hoffran, Lord Of The Vengeance Demons, my old boss. It occurred about twenty years before I became the champion of scorned women."

"So how do you kill it?"

"Well with regular revenants, the best way is to just stay out of its way and let it finish its task. That or bring the revenant's killers to justice for it. But rogues are another ballgame entirely. This Tommy person actually had the right idea, except he didn't realize one thing."

"Which was?" Xander prompts her.

"One way to stop a revenant is to bury it on hallowed ground. So long as its grave is left undisturbed, it will remain dormant."

"So by digging him up . . ."

"The grave was desecrated and therefore could no longer keep him dormant. The other way to destroy a revenant is by fire. You have to burn it until there's nothing left to reanimate."

"Not so easy to do during a thunderstorm," quips Xander.

"Another mistake Tommy made," agrees Anya, "And the final way to put his spirit at rest, is to bind him to his original resting place, as you claim Tommy had done. Unfortunately, should his rest ever be disturbed . . ."

"Then the killings will start anew," Xander finishes for her.

"Oh bloody hell," says Giles, "Buffy's gone to vacation at the very type of place she was trying to get away from. Joyce, we have to warn her! Do you have a phone number where she can be reached."

"Yes," she says, "I have it right by the phone in the kitchen."

Giles runs into the kitchen and finds the note with the number to the cabin. He grabs the receiver and dials the number. Instead of Buffy or Riley picking up, he hears, "_We're sorry, the number you have reached is not in service. Please hang up and try your call again. This is a recording._"

"Damn it!" he curses.

"What is it?" asks Joyce, now very worried, "What's wrong?"

"The phone lines are down," he replies, "Buffy has no idea what she's up against."

"Xander!" he calls, "Where exactly is Crystal Lake?"

"Several miles from Jersey City," recalls Xander, "Why?"

"I'm going out there," replies Giles, "If I can catch a plane now, I can probably get there by nightfall."

"Make two reservations!" says Xander, "I'm going with you!"

"Xander, no!" cries Anya.

"Anya's right," agrees Giles, "It's too dangerous."

"Look!" says Xander, "You know about the occult and monsters and stuff. I know about Jason. If we can get to Buffy before Jason does, the three of us can probably beat him. And besides. It's a long drive from New Jersey to Crystal Lake. You're gonna need someone to ride shotgun so you don't fall asleep and crash your rental car."

"Okay fine," agrees Giles, "But should there be any fighting, you let Buffy and I handle it. I'm afraid this Jason fellow will be somewhat beyond your skills."

"If even half of the stories I've heard about him are true," says Xander, "he may even be too much for Buffy."

Giles calls the airline and books two tickets to New Jersey. As luck would have it, there's a commercial jet leaving in an hour and they're less than half full. Joyce grabs her car keys.

"Come on!" she says, "I'll drive you. It'll be faster than taking a taxi."

As they're running out the door, Joyce grabs Giles by the arm. "Rupert," she says, "Bring my baby home safe."

"Even if it costs me my life," he says.

Then they get into her car and drive off, leaving Anya and Olivia behind to worry about the safety of their men.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

After having been skinny dipping for a few hours, Buffy finally swims over to the dock and pulls herself up out of the water. Betsy and Amy are lying on their towels, enjoying a little nude sunbathing. Buffy accidentally drips on them as she walks past to grab a dry towel.

"Hey Buffy," says Amy, "What're you doing?"

"I'm going inside to check to see if the phones are working yet," says Buffy as she wraps a towel around her naked body, "Besides, I'm starting to prune up. If I get any wrinklier, I'll start looking like Grandma."

"In that case," says Riley, as he pulls himself up out of the water, "You must have one hell of a sexy grandma."

"I'd second that!" laughs Amy.

"I'm torn between saying 'Thank you' and 'Eewww'," replies The Slayer.

"Stick with 'Thank you'," says Riley as he pulls on his shorts and t-shirt.

"We'll be in in a minute," says John, "I'm starting to get kinda hungry. Figured I'd fire up the BBQ and throw on some burgers."

"None for me, thanks," says Betsy, "I'm vegan."

"That's cool," says John, "We have tofu burgers as well. Even got some vegan-friendly BBQ sauce for them."

"Just so long as you don't cook them on the same part of the grill as the beef burgers, then we're cool."

"Okay," says Riley, "We'll see you guys inside."

Buffy and Riley head over to the cabin. Once inside, Buffy heads straight over to the phone. She picks up the receiver and dials, but there's still no service. She clicks the receiver cradle several times like she sees in the movies. That didn't help, but then it never helps in the movies either. She tries dialing the operator, but can't even get through to them.

"Riley, something's wrong," she says, "There is no way that the phones could be legitimately out of order for this long. Not if they're just down for maintenance. What if Jason's back?"

"Buffy, Jason's just a legend. A myth."

"Yeah, well until earlier this year you thought the same thing about vampire slayers. Yet here I am."

"Okay, look. Let's jump in the truck and drive into town. We can call Giles from a pay phone. And I've still got a few friends in the military. I can call Graham, see if he knows about anything supernatural happening around Crystal Lake."

"Good. Grab your keys and let's go."

"Um, Buffy?" says Riley, "Don't you think we should get dressed first?"

Buffy looks down at the towel she has wrapped around herself. "Oh yeah," she says.

She and Riley run upstairs to their room and shut the door. Buffy quickly grabs a bra and some panties from her clothing bag and puts them on. Then she opens up her weapons bag and takes out a steel dagger with a, ankle strap and straps it to her ankle. Then she straps a spring-sheath to her forearm and slips a knife into it. As a quick test she extends her arm and flexes her muscles. The knife springs directly into her grasp. Satisfied, she immediately resets it. She quickly throws on a pair of jeans and a tank top. Then she puts on a long sleeved sweater to hide her spring-sheath and a denim jacket over that. She then takes out what appears to be a leather wallet. She opens it up, and there are four throwing knives inside it. She pulls out one, tests the edge with her thumb, then puts it back and tucks the wallet into her jacket pocket.

As she looks over to Riley, she sees that she wasn't the only one to bring weapons on their vacation. He has a .45 Automatic pistol strapped to his ankle, and a very large revolver in a shoulder holster. He clips a ballistic knife onto his belt, then tucks a survival knife into the back of his jeans waistband. He puts on his leather jacket, hiding his arsenal, then quickly checks to make sure his revolver is loaded.

"What is that?" ask Buffy, "A .44 magnum?"

"Smith & Wesson 500," replies Riley, "Has about triple the firepower of a .44 Magnum, but only about half the recoil."

"I thought you said Jason was only a legend."

"I didn't say I brought this in case Jason showed up. But we do have a tendency to wind up fighting demons where ever we go, and better safe than sorry."

"Then why did you tease me for bringing my weapons?"

"Just one of the perks of being your boyfriend."

"Okay, so we're dressed and armed. Now what? What are we gonna tell your friends?"

'Don't worry," says Riley, "I've got it figured out."

The two of them head downstairs and find most of the others in the kitchen, gathering up supplies for the BBQ. The only two missing are Betsy and Amy.

"Where are Betsy and Amy?" asks Buffy.

"Still down by the lake," says John, "They said that they wanna take advantage of the nice weather and soak up as much of the sun as time will allow."

"If you ask me," says Debra, "I think they wanna get in a little hanky panky before dinner."

"Look," says Riley, "Me and Buffy are going on a beer run. You guys want anything?"

"Sure," says John, "Get me some Appleton 151, a case of Coke, and a case of Barque's Root Beer."

"I'd like a bottle of Smirnoff, and some citrus juice," says Debra, "You know, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, whatever."

"Oh!" says Heather, "Get me some chocolate milk, some Khalua, and some Crème De Cacao."

"I'll take some tequila, salt, and limes," says Wes, "Oh! And margarita mix!"

"Anything else?" asks Riley.

"Beer!" they all shout.

"Okay cool," Riley laughs, "We'll be right back."

"Hurry," says John, "The grill will be ready for the burgers in about an hour."

Buffy and Riley head out to their rental truck and get in. "Beer run?" Buffy asks as Riley starts up the engine.

"Can you think of a better excuse to duck out of a party with a bunch of college kids?" asks Riley.

"Good point," Buffy has to admit.

"Come on," says Riley as he puts the truck in drive, "Let's go."

They drive off down the old dirt road towards the highway. John watches them leave from the kitchen window, then goes back to getting stuff ready for dinner. As Buffy and Riley drive off into the darkening woods, they fail to notice the dark figure of Jason Voorhees watching them drive by from the shadows.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma

Out on the highway, Xander and Giles are heading along towards the town of Crystal Lake. They had been on the road for hours. Xander made sure that Giles rented a good sturdy jeep to navigate the old dirt roads once they got to the country, not an old rust bucket like what he had been driving since he had moved to Sunnydale.

"Can you step on it?" says Xander.

"I'm going the speed limit," replies Giles.

"We're not heading to a picnic here Giles! We're on our way to save Buffy!"

"I'm well aware of that, Xander! But we won't be doing Buffy any good if we get locked up in jail for the night!"

"Giles, this is America. Everyone speeds here! You don't get a night in jail for speeding, all you get is a ticket and a $100 fine."

"Normally, that would be true," admits Giles, "But we've got some fairly specific items in our rental jeep that might make us look a little . . . suspicious."

Xander takes a look in the back seat of the jeep. On their way out of town they had swung by a couple of hardware and sporting good stores to stock up on stuff that they hoped would stop Jason. At first glance, it looks like just camping gear. But on closer inspection, they could appear to be a couple of serial killers on their way for a weekend killing spree. If any cops pulled them over for speeding and gave the jeep a fairly thorough inspection . . .

"I see what you mean," says Xander. "I just have this terrible feeling that we might already be too late."

"So do I."

Despite his earlier objections, Giles presses on the accelerator just a little harder, pushing the jeep just a little bit faster.

Back at the lake, Betsy and Amy are still sunning themselves on the dock. The sun is hovering just above the mountains, promising to plunge the area into darkness at any moment. Amy looks over at her lover.

"You ready to go inside?" she asks.

"Not just yet," replies Betsy.

She kisses Amy passionately on the mouth. Their tongues dance with each other for several moments. Then Betsy starts kissing her way down Amy's neck. She kisses her bare shoulders, then drags her tongue down to her breasts. Here Betsy lingers, kissing and suckling Amy's breasts like a breastfeeding infant. Amy's nipples become stiff and erect at the erotic attention they're receiving. Then Betsy buries her face in between Amy's breasts and motorboats, causing her girlfriend to burst out with laughter.

Betsy starts slowly licking her way down Amy's smooth, flat belly, stopping periodically to kiss her here and there. She lingers at Amy's navel, kissing it and teasing it with her tongue. This prompts more laughter from Amy, as her navel has always been exceptionally ticklish. A fact Betsy knows quite well. Betsy continues working her way down her lover's body, until finally her face is resting right between Amy's silky smooth thighs. Amy spreads her legs and relaxes. While she does enjoy the company of men, she must admit it takes a woman to truly know how to touch another woman.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . .

Along the path to the lake, Jason finds the machete Buffy had imbedded into the trunk of the tree. The blade is driven in so deep, no mortal man could possibly pull it free. Jason grasps it with one cold, dead hand, and yanks it from the tree trunk like King Arthur drawing Excalibur from the stone. He then continues on towards the lake.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . .

Amy is lost in the sensations of Betsy's masterful tongue. She's so engrossed in her love making, she doesn't even hear the steady foot steps as Jason draws nearer. She closes her eyes as she grinds her hips, thrusting her groin into Betsy's face. Betsy intensifies her oral treatment of her girlfriend's love button.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . .

"Oh yes!" moans Amy, "Yeah, just like that! A little more! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!'

Amy opens her eyes and looks up to see Jason standing above her, machete in one hand, hatchet in the other. She opens her mouth to scream, but Jason drives the machete down into her mouth before she could make a sound, pinning her head to the wooden dock. Her scream comes out a strangled gurgling sound. Her body goes into spasms as it tries futilely to hold onto life.

Betsy, her focus completely on her lover's clitoris, doesn't even realize that she is now performing cunnilingus on a corpse. Thinking that Amy's death rattle was in fact a mind blowing orgasm, Betsy lingers just a little longer.

"I hope you're not too worn out, Sweetie," she says, "'Cause it's my turn."

She finally looks up at her lover and sees her lying there with a machete shoved hilt deep into her mouth. Standing above her is Jason, breathing heavily in anger and holding a hatchet. Betsy falls back and screams as Jason throws the hatchet at her, burying it deep into her forehead. Betsy falls into the water with a splash, then sinks beneath the waves. Jason steps on Amy's face and pulls the machete from her mouth. To an observer it would look as though a sword swallowing trick had gone very, very wrong. Jason then turns and looks up at the lights from the cabin, just barely peaking through the trees.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . .

Buffy and Riley are driving along the road. Buffy is acting more and more nervous. She has a terrible feeling that Crystal Lake is not nearly as serene as Riley believed. Looking over at Riley, she can tell that he's really beginning to worry too. You can't live in a town built on top of a Hell Mouth for any length of time and _not _be worried about legendary monsters and death curses being real.

"Can't this heap go any faster?" Buffy asks.

"Buffy, you have to be careful driving along these old country roads," Riley replies, "It's really easy to get stuck if you run off the . . ."

Suddenly there's a loud _bang_, like an explosion, and Riley has to fight with the wheel to keep control of the truck. They drive off the road and into the bushes, crashing into the trunk of a large and ancient birch tree.

" . . . Road." Riley finishes.

"You okay?" asks Buffy.

"Yeah," replies Riley, "You?"

"I'm fine. What happened?"

"Sounded like we had a blowout."

Buffy and Riley get out of the truck and check the damage. The hood of the truck and the front grill are pretty much caved in. The front bumper is bent nearly in half. But most disturbing to Buffy, is all four tires are flat.

"Now how the Hell did that happen?" says Riley, more to himself than anything.

Buffy goes back over to the road and begins looking around. It's getting dark, which makes looking for clues more difficult. But she manages to find one, or at least it found her.

"Ouch! Damn it!"

"What is it?" asks Riley, "What happened?"

"I think I found why we had the blowout, that's what," says Buffy.

Riley comes running over. Buffy's holding a heavy tree branch, about as long as she is tall. Nails had been driven through the tree limb at various angles, all along its length. And judging from the end where it had been removed from the tree, it had been cut off very recently.

"Maybe it's Sean playing another practical joke," says Riley.

"It was half buried in the road. And there's others too. Whoever did this, doesn't want people driving out of here."

"Hey, what's that?" asks Riley, looking farther up the road.

Buffy looks to see what he's referring to. Up the road and just around the bend, there looks to be lights. Specifically, the flashing red lights of a parked car in distress. Buffy hikes up her pant leg and draws her dagger. Riley follows her lead and draws his huge revolver. They run over to where the lights are coming from, then stop in their tracks.

"Well now we know why the phones aren't working," says Buffy as she sees the downed telephone pole.

They approach the abandoned truck cautiously. The tires had all been slashed, and the hood of the truck had been opened. Riley takes out a small penlight from his jacket pocket and looks at the engine.

"Yeah, someone really did a number on this," he says, "The fan belt's been cut. The radiator hose has been torn out. The distributor cap is missing. And even if I could fix all of that, the tires are all flat."

"Riley! Get over here!"

Riley runs over to Buffy, who is kneeling by the top of the felled telephone pole. As he approaches, Buffy holds up her hand. It is soaked in blood.

"Still think this is all some sick joke?" she says.

Riley looks to see where the blood came from. There's a large puddle of it right under the top of the pole. There's no body, but with that much blood, whoever was lying there is definitely dead.

"We don't have times to go to town and call Giles," says Riley, "We gotta go get the others! We go back now, get the others, and get the hell out of here before it's too late!"

"It may already be too late," says Buffy.

"John's my family. I have to try."

"We're not gonna get very far with this log laying across the road like this. You go clear out the rest of the spikes out of the road. I'll take care of the telephone pole."

"Buffy, you can't possibly lift that entire . . ."

Buffy grabs hold of the pole and lifts one end of it off the ground, swinging it around to the side of the road.

"Alright then," says Riley, "Never mind." And he runs over to remove the other spikes that Jason had apparently set up to prevent anyone from escaping. Or perhaps to prevent help from arriving. Maybe even both.

Once he's done, he goes back and helps Buffy move the phone company's truck to the side of the road. Once the path is clear to drive both to and from the cabin, the two of them start running back to the cabin. All the while they pray that they're not too late.

At the cabin, everyone is out on the patio waiting for the coals in the BBQ to be hot enough to put the burgers on the grill. They have potatoes baking in the oven inside the oven in the kitchen, as well as corn on the cob cooking on the stove.

"Did any of you guys hear a scream?" asks John, "It sounded like it came from the lake."

"Probably Betsy having another orgasm," says Debra, "Those two go at it like a couple of lesbian turkeys."

"Don't you mean lesbian rabbits?" asks Wes.

"No, turkey's," says Debra, "During mating season, a turkey will screw itself to death if given a chance."

"No way!" says Heather.

"It's true," says Debra, "The turkey is statistically the horniest creature on the planet. Once they get in the mood, they don't stop. Ever."

"Hey John!" says Robert, "How long until we can throw the burgers on?"

"It'll be at least another twenty minutes before the coals are hot enough," John replies.

"Good!" says Stephanie, as she wraps her arms around Robert's neck, "That gives us time to work up an appetite."

With that, she kisses Robert and walks into the cabin. Wes and Heather laugh as Robert immediately follows his girlfriend inside. Debra heads into the kitchen to check on the corn and potatoes, while Wes and Heather begin making out. Then Heather sniffs Wes's hair and makes a face.

"Eewww!" she says. Then she smells her own hair. "Yech! I think there's something in the water. My hair smells disgusting!"

"I didn't smell anything," says Wes.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a shower before supper. Wanna come?"

"I'll be up in a minute," he says, "Guy time first."

"Okay," she says, "But no sex until after you've showered. I'm serious. I think there's something fouling up the lake water."

"I promise," he says.

Just as Heather is about to step inside, the power goes out.

"Shit," she says, "Now what?"

"It's probably the generator," says John, "It's old, so it doesn't run as well as it used to. Don't worry, there are plenty of candles in the house. Hey, Wes. Could you do me a favor and check the generator? I gotta stay here and keep an eye on the grill."

"Yeah, sure," says Wes, "Where is it?'

"In the shed around back. You'll find a flashlight right by the door once you walk in."

"Great. I'll be right back."

Wes heads off towards the shed, and Heather heads into the kitchen. She finds that Debra had already lit a bunch of candles. She takes a couple of the lit ones and takes them upstairs. She puts one in her and Wes's bedroom, then heads over to the bathroom to take a shower. As she walks past Robert and Stephanie's room, she can hear them moaning as they enjoy their sexcapades. She smiles and shakes her head. Those two are almost as bad as Betsy and Amy.

Wes finds the generator shed easily enough. The door is unlocked, so he just walks right in. He finds the flashlight John had told him about. It's one of those really heavy duty ones that practically needs a car battery. He turns it on and is relieved to see that it still works. He checks out the generator. The motor has stopped running. The fuel gauge says that there's plenty of gas. The switches are all turned to the _on_ position. As he's inspecting the generator, he finds that the several cables have been pulled out and completely shredded.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . .

"What the hell?" he says, "What the hell could've done _this_?"

He turns around and runs face to face with Jason, who grabs him by the head and twists it all the way around backward. Wes's body falls to the floor, and Jason stands there looking at it. His broad shoulders rise and fall as he breathes heavily in anger. He turns around and walks out of the shed, slamming the door behind him.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . .

John is on the patio, poking the coals around in the BBQ, making sure the flames reach all of them. He hears footsteps coming up the stairs behind him.

"Hey Wes," he says, "Couldn't figure out the generator huh? Okay, you take over here, I'll go take a look."

He turns around and sees Jason standing there with a machete in his hand, poised to strike. Before John could say a word, Jason takes his head clean off his shoulders with a single stroke of the machete.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . .

Debra comes out of the kitchen holding a propane lantern. John is nowhere too be found.

"John?" she calls, "You out here?"

No answer. She walks over to the BBQ and looks around. She still can't see anyone.

"I guess he went to work on the generator," she says to herself.

She lifts the lid to the BBQ and finds John's severed head sitting on the grill, cooking over the coals. She screams and turns to run, but runs right into Jason. Jason shoves a BBQ fork into her chin and drives it up into her brain. He then lifts her up into the air and drive the top of her head into one of the rafters above the patio, pushing the BBQ fork through her skull and into the wooden beam. Then he leaves her hanging from the rafter like a side of beef. Silently, Jason turn and walks into the house.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . .

Upstairs, Heather is in the shower. She turns the water off and listens for a moment.

"Did somebody just scream?" she asks. No answer. "Must've been Stephanie. I swear, she's as bad as Betsy."

She steps out of the shower and towels off. Then she wraps the towel around her naked body, takes the candle, and heads back to her room. Sure enough, when she walks past Robert and Stephanie's room, it sounds like they're watching a hardcore porno movie with the volume turned all the way up. She goes to her and Wes's room and puts on her bra and panties. She takes out a hair brush and brushes the knots out of her hair. As she's looking through her make up bag, a couple of joints roll out. She picks one up.

"Why not?" she says.

She walks over to the bed and sits down. Using the candle, she lights up the joint and takes some deep tokes. She lies back on the bed and allows the marijuana to take effect. She just takes another toke when Jason's hand comes up from under the bed and grabs her by the forehead. At the same time, the blade of his machete bursts out from in between her breasts.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . .

Robert and Stephanie are in their room, oblivious to the danger they are in. The candlelight glistens off of the seat which coats their bodies. Stephanie is on all fours like a dog, while Robert is kneeling behind her, thrusting away.

"Yes!" she cries, "Yes! That's it! Fuck me! Fuck me hard! God yes! I love it!"

"Fuck! I love it when you talk dirty to me!" says Robert, "Tell me more!"

"Fuck me!" she says, "Fuck me like a bitch! That's it! Harder! Deeper! God! I love it!"

"Oh God!" he cries, " I'm gonna . . . I'm gonna . . . Aaarrgh!"

He thrusts his hips forward a couple more times and then they collapse onto the bed together, spooning in the candlelight. They lie there for a moment, catching there breath. Robert leans over her and kisses her passionately on the lips.

"You . . . are so . . . amazing," he says, gasping for breath.

"Sweetie, you ain't seen nothin' yet," she replies.

"Oh yeah? What do you have in mind."

"Your turn."

"My turn? My turn for what"

"Your turn to get down on all fours and be fucked like a bitch," she says.

"What?"

Stephanie leans over the side of the bed and grabs a bag which had been tucked away beneath it. She unzips it and rummages through the contents, until she comes up with a strap on dildo.

"I'm gonna peg your ass," she says.

"What? No way! There is no way you're sticking that thing up my ass."

"Why not? You like it when I stick my finger up there."

"Look at the size of that thing! Does that look like a fucking finger to you? Whose finger was used for the mold? Andre The Giant?"

"The dildo is removable. I can put a smaller one on. Trust me, I'll be gentle."

"How small?"

"Practically a baby dick. You'll love it, I swear."

"Let's see it first."

Stephanie takes out her bag and starts rummaging around in it. "Shit!" she says.

"Forgot to pack it?"

"No, I forgot to pack the lube. I think I saw some petroleum jelly in the bathroom. Wait here, I'll be right back."

She gets up and grabs his t-shirt, putting it on as she heads to the door. She takes a candle and walks down the hall to the bathroom. She squats down and looks through the cupboard beneath the bathroom sink. She can't find the petroleum jelly down there. She stands back up and opens up the medicine cabinet. There's the petroleum jelly, sitting on the top shelf. She takes it down and closes the cabinet door.

As the door closes, she sees Jason standing right behind her in the reflection in the mirror. She tries to scream, but he covers her mouth with his hand, muffling the sound. She flails her arms and legs in a desperate attempt to fight him off. The bathroom door slams shut in the struggle. Jason lifts Stephanie off the ground and drives her skull into the coat hook on the inside of the door. Her body goes limp as her life slips away. Jason releases the body, then stands back and watches it for a moment as it hangs there. Then he opens the door and leaves the bathroom.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . .

The bedroom door creaks open. Robert is lying on the bed, flat on his belly. His bare ass is exposed for the entire world to see. He hears footsteps approaching.

"You find what you were looking for, Hun?" asks Robert.

No answer.

"What? Trying to surprise me? Just remember. Don't go sticking anything in there that's too big, or we're through with pegging."

Still no answer.

"Deal?"

Robert looks over his shoulder to see Jason standing there with his machete raised. Robert moves to try and spring from the bed, but Jason strikes first. He stabs Robert through the back, the machete blade going all the way through to the floor beneath the bed. Then he pulls the bade out and stabs him again. Then again. And again. And again. Over and over he stabs Robert through the back. Once he finally stops, Jason stands there looking down at Robert's bloody, twitching, corpse. Still not satisfied, Jason tucks the machete into his belt, grabs the ends of the bed, then folds the bed, and its occupant, in half. Breathing heavily in anger, Jason stands there glaring at Robert's mutilated corpse. Then he turns and walks away.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . .

Jason walks into Buffy and Riley's room. Even his severely handicapped mind understands that it will still be some time before the occupants of this room return. Still, something draws him in here. Instinct, perhaps. As he's looking about, his foot bumps one of Buffy's suitcases. It falls open, revealing itself to be filled with weapons. Jason reaches down and grabs Buffy's crossbow. He looks at it in the moonlight, admiring the way the silver light of the moon reflects off of the steel arrowheads. He pulls back the bowstring until it locks in place with an audible _click_. This will do . . . This will do just fine. He turns around and walks away.

Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . Ki-ki-ki-ki . . . Ma-ma-ma-ma . . . . .


End file.
